( Putin travels to Crimea - last time his plane was anywhere near Ukraine , some believe the Ukrainians try to shoot his plane down , hit MH 17 in error ! So keep an eye out for mischief while he travels ! )

Putin to travel to Crimea for a two-day tour

MOSCOW, August 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday begins a two-day working tour of Crimea, where actually the entire leadership of the country will gather.

The Kremlin press service reported that on Wednesday the President would confer with members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.

On Thursday, August 14, Putin is to meet in Crimea with members of the State Duma lower house of the Russian parliament. "The President is expected to have a frank talk with the parliamentarians on matters of current importance regarding the country's life," a press service official pointed out, emphasizing that "special attention is to be devoted to matters concerning practical party work in the present-day competitive environment".

Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister and Chairman of the United Russia party, Sergey Naryshkin, Speaker of the State Duma, the leaders of all House party factions and government ministers are to participate in the meeting.

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the meeting with the President is to assemble the country's leading politically active officials of the country whom Putin will address in a big speech. According to Peskov, this is connected with Russia's internal political season starting in several weeks' time.

A State Duma source confirmed that House factions would arrive at the meeting with the President on the Peninsula almost in a body.

While in Crimea, Putin is also to meet with people prominent in the field of culture to discuss matters relating to the Republic's integration into the cultural environment of Russia. "The agenda is so deep and substantive that it encompasses various formats (of discussion) which do not substitute one another," Peskov explained.

The present tour is already a second visit by the Head of State to Crimea following the latter's reunification with Russia. On May 9, Putin watched a naval review and a flypast in Sevastopol where he arrived after reviewing the Victory parade in Moscow's Red Square.

In March of the current year, following a political crisis and an unlawful change-over of power in Ukraine, the Supreme Council of Crimea and the Sevastopol City Council adopted a declaration of the Republic's independence.

A referendum was held in Crimea and Sevastopol. As a result of the referendum, 96.77% of the Republic's electorate and 95.6% of Sevastopol constituents voted in favour of a reunification with Russia. On March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties on the admission of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to Russia. The Treaties were subsequently endorsed by the State Duma and the Federation Council upper house of parliament.

A large amount of work is being done for the integration of the Republic of Crimea and the Federal city of Sevastopol into the economic, political and legal field of Russia: within a short period of time, the rouble fully replaced the hrivna; wages and pensions on the Peninsula are being brought up to Russia's average level; a judicial system and government bodies have been formed; Russia's banks begin to operate there; cellular communication operators begin to move in, and so on.

A project is being worked out to build a bridge across the Kerch Strait to supplement the existing ferry link between Crimea and Krasnodar Territory.

On August 11, the Russian government approved a Federal purpose-oriented programme for the Peninsula's socio-economic development in a period until the 2020 target year, with financing amounting to 681 billion roubles.

One of significant events was the signing of a Decree by the Russian President in April about rehabilitating the Crimean Tatar population and other peoples of Crimea, who had been subjected to deportation in the 1940s.

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The Russian Foreign Ministry has received a note from the Ukrainian government expressing its readiness to accept the Russian humanitarian aid. The news came as Moscow agreed on the Ukrainian presence in the humanitarian convoy.

The arrangements for the humanitarian aid convoy have been completely agreed upon, with all of Kiev’s wishes taken into account, including the route, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters at a press conference in Sochi.

“We have agreed on a route convenient for the Kiev authorities. We agreed that our trucks would have Ukrainian number plates during their way through Ukrainian territory. We also agreed to take on board not only the representatives of the Red Cross and the OSCE, but also representatives of the Ukrainian authorities,” Lavrov said.

“The convoy has set off,” he added. “We have received a note with the confirmation of the Ukrainian side’s readiness to receive the aid.”

The trucks are carrying food, medication and drinking water.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (RIA Novosti)

Earlier, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military said that Kiev intended to hold up the internationally-supervised aid convoy meant for the Ukraine's east for at least a week. Ukraine said the time was needed for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to establish where exactly the aid should go.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has abandoned the idea to reload the aid from Russian trucks onto Red Cross transport after a search at the border, according to Lavrov said.

“They raised the question of reloading the aid from all 287 trucks onto the trucks rented by the Red Cross, but, for obvious reasons, abandoned this idea, because it would only complicate and make the implementation of this humanitarian action more expensive,” the Russian FM said.

“I count a lot on the hope that public statements made by some Kiev authorities with the demand for new conditions will be disavowed and won’t interfere with the accomplishment of the agreements reached between Russia, Ukraine and the Red Cross,” he added.

KIEV, August 12 (RIA Novosti) – The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday passed the first reading of a law that would allow Kiev to impose 29 different types of sanctions against Russia, including prohibiting the transit of energy resources through its territory.

“For the purposes of protecting national interests, national security, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and its economic independence … [Ukraine] may utilize special economic and other restrictive measures. Sanctions may be used by Ukraine against foreign states, foreign legal entities, [foreign] individuals and Ukrainian citizens,” the law reads.

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers on Friday approved the bill, although its passing does not mean the economic and restrictive measures will automatically be implemented. The bill is still to go through its second reading later on Tuesday.

The new law would allow for the blocking of assets, limiting sales operations, and partially or fully halting flights and the transit of goods through Ukraine. The law would also give the government the right to annul or freeze licenses for certain types of activities, including mining and extracting operations.

The bill also suggests halting all joint projects and industrial programs, including in the security and defense sphere. The sanctions also imply the suspension of trade agreements, cultural exchanges and the cancellation of official visits. The bill stipulates the denial or abolition of visas to foreigners, as well as the possibility of entry bans.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk elaborated last week that the sanctions will affect individuals and companies that support and finance “separatism and terrorism.” According to the prime minister, the government is planning to submit a new sanctions list comprising 172 individuals and 65 legal entities to Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council for further consideration. The council could approve the blacklist as soon as this Wednesday.

MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to travel to the port city of Sevastopol in southwestern Crimea where he is to attend a scheduled meeting of the nation’s Security Council, the Kremlin said early Wednesday.

Putin’s working visit to the Crimean Federal District will run through Wednesday and Thursday, when the president is expected to fly back to Moscow to speak before the assembly of Russian political factions in the Duma, the lower house of the country’s parliament.

The Council last met on August 8, when it discussed the humanitarian disaster in Ukraine’s east. To tackle the issue, Russia offered to send humanitarian cargo to the affected territories under the auspices of the Red Cross.

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Kiev had notified Moscow it was ready to receive humanitarian aid cargo, with US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf later saying Washington had backed this proposal and called for its “swift implementation.”

A convoy of 280 trucks is expected to arrive at the Ukrainian border on Wednesday, carrying some 2,000 tons of relief aid contributed by Moscow and the Moscow Region.

However, with the trucks currently in transit from a point southwest of Moscow and set to enter Ukrainian territory through a customs checkpoint in the Kharkiv region, according to former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, a snag has appeared: Ukraine, which previously blessed the Russian convoy's entry into the country has had a change of heart and has announced it would not allow the convoy in its current state.

UKRAINE WON'T ALLOW RUSSIAN AID CONVOY TO ENTER, CHALY SAYS

As Ukraine security council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said early this morning, the convoy should pass through a government-controlled border post and be accompanied by Red Cross officials. As BBC adds, what was previously a greenlighted operation merely under the condition that it was spearheaded by the Red Cross, Lysenko said Ukraine had three conditions for receiving the aid:

That it should pass through a border post controlled by Ukrainian government guards

That it should be accompanied by Red Cross representatives

That a decision should be made about the amount being sent, its destination and route.

Lysenko further adds that the convoy of 280 trucks dispatched on Tuesday “did not pass the ICRC certification.”

Another Ukrainian official, Valery Chaly, said Ukraine would not allow access to a convoy accompanied by the Russian military or Emergencies Ministry.

The BBC's David Stern, in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, says there has been some confusion in the Ukrainian government's response to news of the convoy, suggesting it has been taken by surprise. Nothing surprising about that.

Presidential aide Valery Chaliy said Kiev wants the entire cargo to be unloaded on the border and transferred to Red Cross vehicles.

“We will not allow any escort of the Russian Emergencies Ministry or Russian military,” he said. “Ukraine will take responsibility for this procedure.”

According to RT, Lysenko claimed that the convoy consists of repainted military trucks and is accompanied by an S-300 air defense system, according to the news agency Ukraine National News.

He didn’t elaborate on why Russia would need to send a system that is meant to protect key strategic positions from enemy aircraft and missiles, but is useless in guarding a convoy of vehicles on the move.

Meanwhile, the confusion grows: the Red Cross said it was informed by Moscow that the convoy had been dispatched, but had yet to receive detailed shipping lists and distribution plans.

“The situation is changing by the hour and right now we are not in a position to provide further details now as to how this operation could take place,” ICRC spokesperson Anastasiya Isyuk told RT.

Earlier, Moscow said that the humanitarian mission had been agreed by all parties concerned. Russia has sent some 2,000 tons of aid to Ukraine, including food, medicine, sleeping bags and power generators.

Needless to say, that is not what Ukraine thinks: Kiev earlier accused Moscow of trying to conduct a stealth invasion of Ukraine under a guise of humanitarian aid, saying that Russian troops would be posing as guards of the convoy while actually tasked with starting an offensive. And a headline from Bloomberg:

LYSENKO SAYS RUSSIA SENDS MILITARY GEAR IN GUISE OF AID CONVOY

So what happens from here on out is unclear, although it is safe to say that the fate of the BTFD algos today lies in the hands of some 280 freshly painted white trucks.

Ukraine said the time is needed for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is contributing to the Moscow-initiated mission, to establish where the aid should go in the Ukrainian region engulfed by civil war.

Presidential aide Valery Chaliy said Kiev wants the entire cargo to be unloaded on the border and transferred to Red Cross vehicles.

“We will not allow any escort of the Russian Emergencies Ministry or Russian military,” he said. “Ukraine will take responsibility for this procedure.”

Lysenko claimed that the convoy consists of repainted military trucks and is accompanied by an S-300 air defense system, according to the news agency Ukraine National News.

He didn’t elaborate on why Russia would need to send a system that is meant to protect key strategic positions from enemy aircraft and missiles, but is useless in guarding a convoy of vehicles on the move.

The ICRC said it was informed by Moscow that the convoy had been dispatched, but had yet to receive detailed shipping lists and distribution plans.

“The situation is changing by the hour and right now we are not in a position to provide further details now as to how this operation could take place,” ICRC spokesperson Anastasiya Isyuk told RT.

Earlier, Moscow said that the humanitarian mission had been agreed by all parties concerned.

Russia has sent some 2,000 tons of aid to Ukraine, including food, medicine, sleeping bags and power generators.

The cargo is meant for the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which have seriously suffered in more than three months of warfare, as Ukrainian troops used heavy artillery, bomber aircraft and tanks to advance on cities controlled by the militias.

Kiev earlier accused Moscow of trying to conduct a stealth invasion of Ukraine under a guise of humanitarian aid, saying that Russian troops would be posing as guards of the convoy while actually tasked with starting an offensive.

The narrative was supported by some western countries, which said that any humanitarian mission not backed by Kiev would be considered an attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Russia dismissed the accusations as nonsense.

In another media briefing on Monday evening, Lysenko stated that the humanitarian convoy to Ukraine was organized “under an agreement between [President] Petro Poroshenko and the Red Cross,” and that Russia “wants to present this mission as its own initiative” as a publicity stunt.

KIEV, August 12. /ITAR-TASS/. The document suggested by the government was passed by 243 votes. It envisages 29 measures of immediate and effective response to potential threats to the national interests of Ukraine and its security, The proposed sanctions might block assets, limit trade transactions, fully or partly block transit of resources, ban flights and other transportation services, prevent exodus of capital, suspend or revoke financial liabilities and enforce other prohibitive measures, such as establishing control over mass media and Internet communications, banning ships and aircraft from calling at Ukrainian ports and flying in Ukrainian airspace, revoking trade transactions and joint projects in defense and security.

Destructions after a shelling attack on Luhansk

DONETSK, August 12./ITAR-TASS/. Luhansk will be a final destination point for humanitarian aid delivery to southeast Ukraine residents, Vice-Premier of the self proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Andrei Purgin said on Tuesday.

Russia’s convoy of trucks with humanitarian supplies for the population of southeast Ukraine set out early on Tuesday morning from the Moscow Region. The humanitarian supplies include foodstuffs, baby food, medicines and drinking water.

“The convoy is moving to Luhansk through Kharkov and will most likely stop in the town of Schastye [a Luhansk suburb]. If everything proceeds normally, combat operations will be halted there. We don’t have any other details right now,” the DPR vice-premier said.

Humanitarian aid distribution in Lugansk may be complicated due to the complete absence of communications with the city and its destroyed infrastructure, he said.

“It is not clear whom this aid will be handed over as the city has been severely damaged. There is no electricity or communications there,” he said.

The humanitarian convoy is moving to the region actually without any notice received by Luhansk, the DPR vice-premier said.

“This means that the convoy will bring the aid and will then try to hand it over to someone on the spot,” he said.

There are currently about 250,000 people staying in Luhansk, according to the city council’s data. They are forced to live amid incessant armed clashes between local self-defense fighters and the Ukrainian army, and also without water and electricity.

The aid convoy includes 280 trucks delivering 2 tons of basic necessities for southeast Ukraine residents. The Moscow Region administration said the humanitarian cargo included 400 tons of groats, 100 tons of sugar, 62 tons of baby food, 54 tons of medicines and medical items, 12,000 sleeping bags and 69 electric power units of various capacity.

MOSCOW, August 12. /ITAR-TASS/. The EU plans to hold talks with countries such as Brazil and Chile to dissuade them from stepping in to replace Europe’s banned agricultural exports to Russia, senior officials said on Monday, the Financial Times reported.

Since Russia banned food imports from the EU and the US last week in a response to sanctions, Moscow has been negotiating with Latin American countries for alternative supplies. Several countries and trade groups in South America said that Moscow’s measures could offer them a lucrative windfall.

Brazil has authorized about 90 new meat plants to immediately start exporting chicken, beef and pork to Russia, and Chile is tipped as a leading beneficiary of Russia’s embargo on European fish.

Seneri Paludo, Brazil’s Secretary for Agricultural Policy, said Russia’s embargo could also allow Brazil to export more corn and soy beans to the country. “Russia has the potential to be a large consumer of agricultural commodities, not just meat,” he said.

Such excitement in the agricultural powerhouses of Latin America has triggered concern in Brussels. “We will be talking to the countries that would be potentially replacing our exports to indicate that we would expect them not to profit unfairly from the current situation,” said one senior EU official at a briefing on the situation in Ukraine.

The official said he understood that individual companies could sign new contracts with Russia but it would “be difficult to justify” countries pursuing diplomatic initiatives to fill the gap left by the EU, the US, Norway and Australia.

Another EU official said the talks would be “political”, seeking to map out the importance of a united international front on Ukraine, rather than raising specific legal objections to food exports to Russia.

The EU, as the world’s largest trade bloc, can exercise influence through its negotiations with Latin America’s Mercosur trade grouping, although these 15-year-old talks on a trade accord are mired in difficulties over market access.

Most attention on potential winners from Europe’s trade war with Russia has focused on Latin America but Belarus and Turkey are also expected to profit.

While senior European diplomats are due to protest to any country seeking to fill the gap left by EU exports, an official from the EU’s agricultural commission was more sanguine. He explained that any country diverting exports to Russia would very probably create a new market for the EU.

The announcement of the diplomatic protests came as the EU unveiled its first measures to support farmers hit by the Russian ban - propping up peach and nectarine farmers, whose business had already been crippled by bad weather. The EU said that it would increase the amount of the fruit available for free distribution and would make more funds available for promotion.

While Russia’s ban has exacerbated the difficulties for peach farmers in Spain, Greece and Italy, the EU had been planning to act on peaches and nectarines before Moscow’s embargo.

A more comprehensive EU response to the food ban is expected to be drawn up at a meeting of agricultural experts from all 28 EU countries in Brussels on Thursday.

RIGA, August 12 (RIA Novosti) – The ban imposed by Russia on food imports from the European Union will cost Latvia 55 million euros ($73.5 million) in losses, Latvian Prime Minster Laimdota Straujuma said Tuesday.

“The expected losses are estimated approximately at 55 million euros. Over a half of this sum will go on dairy industry, it will suffer the most,” Straujuma said, noting that the figures are not final.

Earlier last week, Andrei Pildegovich, secretary of state of the Latvian Foreign Ministry, said that Latvia would develop a compensation mechanism for companies who are hit by the import embargo imposed by Russia in response to Western sanctions.

Last Thursday, Russia unveiled a list of banned food and agriculture products from countries that imposed US-backed sanctions against Russia. The one-year ban will target beef, pork, fish, poultry, fruits, vegetables, nuts, as well as cheese and other dairy from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway.

BRUSSELS, August 12 (RIA Novosti) — European Union experts on Thursday do not plan on discussing the union's applications to the World Trade Organization regarding Russia's food ban, but will instead discuss the economic repercussions of them, an EU source told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

“On Thursday, there will be no discussion among EU experts on the possibility to start dispute settlement procedures in the WTO against the Russian agri-food ban. There will be just a discussion on the implication of this restriction measure on the EU economy," the source said.

European Commission spokesman Roger White said Monday that the European Union was hoping to evaluate the impact of Russia’s ban of food imports from the 28-member bloc by Thursday’s experts' meeting, but would not be ready to decide on how to replace the Russian market.

A panel of experts has already started looking at what is encompasses Russia's restrictions and their potential impact on other world markets, he said.

On Thursday, Russia introduced a one-year ban on agricultural and food product imports from the countries that have imposed sanctions on Moscow over the Ukrainian crisis, namely the European Union, the United States, Australia, Canada and Norway.

That's a damn good question. And unlike the unpatriotic Spanish apricot and peach growers, the Polish "Puls Biznesu" newspaper called for a show of support for Poland's apple producers, urging people to eat more apples and to drink cider.

If Poles don't eat 3-4 times as many apples as before, then prices will crash.

But hey, as you all know, it's a small price to pay. Who cares if history says sanctions don't work? Who cares if a recession ensues?

I encourage everyone to wrap themselves in the flag of the US singing right along with the Finnish dairy workers "Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah It's a Small Price to Pay".

The "small price to pay" advocates will cheer every step of the way until they are the ones who have to pay the "small price".

In that regard, expect Finnish dairy workers to quickly renounce their "small price"

MOSCOW, August 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s veterinary inspection service Rosselkhoznadzor has barred a 20 tonne batch of US poultry from being re-exported into Russia from Kazakhstan, side-stepping Moscow's embargo, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The poultry meat was accompanied by a veterinary certificate for transportation of goods within the republic of Kazakhstan only,” the agency said, adding that chicken imports from the United States had been banned under President Vladimir Putin's decree limiting imports of US and European agricultural goods.

Rosselkhoznadzor specialists sent the batch of chicken back to Kazakhstan and instituted administrative proceedings against violators.

In response to Western sanctions, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on August 6 to ban for the next 12 months imports of farm produce from countries that imposed sanctions against Russia. Putin’s decree instructed his government to devise an action plan and draft a list of products that would be subject to the ban.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced on August 7 that the Russian government imposed a one-year ban on imports of all meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the United States, the 28 European Union countries, Canada, Australia and non-EU member Norway.

Combined with other import bans imposed earlier this year, the new trade measures cover Western imports worth $9.1 billion in 2013, according to Russian customs data.

MOSCOW, August 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone talk with the Kazakh and Belarusian leaders to discuss measures aimed at preventing re-exports of banned foods into Russia, the Kremlin press office said on Wednesday.

The Russian government has banned the imports of foodstuffs and agricultural products from the European Union, the United States and other countries in response to their sanctions against Russia over its stance on Ukraine.

Experts have said that banned foods could be re-exported from the territory of Belarus and Kazakhstan that form the customs union with Russia.

“The parties discussed some issues of cooperation within the Eurasian Economic Union, including coordination of measures aimed at preventing illegal supplies of some products to Russia via Kazakhstan and Belarus from some countries whose deliveries were banned in accordance with the Russian government’s recent resolution,” the Kremlin press office said.

The three leaders also exchanged their opinions on the formats of international efforts to assist the quickest resolution of the internal political crisis in Ukraine, the Kremlin press office said.

“The leaders expressed their serious concern over the heavy humanitarian consequences of the military operation being conducted by the Kiev authorities in southeast Ukraine. Putin informed the Kazakh and Belarus leaders about a humanitarian mission dispatched by Russia in interaction with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Ukrainian side,” the Kremlin press office said.

Combined with other import bans imposed earlier this year, Russia’s new trade measures cover Western imports worth $9.1 billion in 2013, according to Russian customs data. EU countries are expected to suffer most from Russia’s ban as they supplied food products worth $6.5 billion in 2013.